Volume 6 / Chapter 188
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Hungry Panda
The battlefield where Red Eye and Dragon rampaged.
More than tens of thousands of corpses are piled up regardless of Lifers and mutants. There are lot who died of burning in the fire.
It is a trick on the eye.
When Dragon appeared, everything including the alive and the dead burned.
Very few Lifers are crawling on the ground. Though they have holes in their chests or their organs are ruptured, they cannot accept death with the lingering hope that they can be fixed as long as they can get back to the briefing room or Mechanic City.
But they need their PDAs if they want to return, but most of them have melted. They lost their functions when they were exposed to the high heat. There are tens of thousands of Lifers. There might be one in good condition if they look for it, but it is nearly impossible to drag these bodies in wretched condition to find something for which they don"t know where to look.
Cha Jun Sung pa.s.ses a field of corpses that looks like something from h.e.l.l. Whenever he encountered a living Lifer, he used his own PDA to send them back.
There were only 7 of them. He had been thinking that a fair amount of them would have survived because Red Eye left the battlefield in the middle, but Dragon had used all of his power as a level 8. The Lifers were wiped out.
It is not an annihilation because there are survivors, but it is a fitting expression.
In this way, Cha Jun Sung rescued a total of 11 people. They are all so injured that they could die at any moment. They have held out because of their body modifications and battlesuits.
"What on earth have you done?"
[The mission malfunctioned. We are currently trying to figure out the cause.]
Cha Jun Sung asked Odin once he had time.
He cannot understand why all of these Lifers entered together, and everything was suspicious.
He cannot trust Life Mission because of what Black Demon told him.
"Reward… No. This isn"t a game. What point is a compensation."
What can a life be compensated with? Death is the end. Cha Jun Sung expected Life Mission to keep their mouths shut. They don"t really have a reason to give Lifers an explanation. If they don"t like it, they can leave.
[Can you tell me what happened in there with Black Demon?]
"We fought."
[Are you saying that you fought a Disaster and survived?]
"I came flinging out at the end because I took a hit. He was really strong. And what are you going to do if you don"t believe me? Aren"t you guys hiding a ton of stuff too?"
It is mutual. He will hide as much as he is told and hide even what he is not told. Cha Jun Sung realized that the helpers do not have much influence after meeting their superior. They have influence for Life Mission itself, but they lose authority once their superiors get involved.
He realized while watching this situation.
"Rules were in place like a game in the beginning, but it"s to your will as we go further along. It feels like you"re treating us like testing specimen."
Cha Jun Sung took a jab.
Odin does not answer. He did not take the jab because he wanted to hear the response.
He heard enough from Black Demon.
"You said the goal is to get rid of mutants, right? Then I"m sure it"ll become more important as we go higher through levels 1 through 9. And getting rid of level 9s will be important."
"The fight between White Queen and Cruel King was a chance to get rid of level 9s. They would all have been killed if Black Demon hadn"t showed up, no?"
Is he talking to Odin?
He is talking to the superiors. They will be listening.
"But the question is why you"re trying to put Lifers in when you could use nuclear weapons or bombs with the science you have."
He is saying this because he really is curious. No matter how impressive level 9s are, he does not think that they could survive nuclear bombs. What is nuclear power?
It is the worst weapon ever created by humans. It is a weapon that could destroy cities, countries, the world. It means extinction the second they are launched.
They could somehow survive, but that is only if there are 1 or 2. If dozens are launched, even level 9s will become dust and disappear.
"Fine. I"m sure there"s a reason."
Cha Jun Sung taunts. Is this how it feels to become a lab rat? How will the rats that are actually tested on feel? He thinks he might be able to understand.
Cha Jun Sung looks across from the battlefield.
There are still mutants over there. It has been half a day since Lifers stopped entering. It can only be seen as an entry being blocked off because it is not working no matter how much they try.
"There are no survivors and I have nothing to do."
There is nothing he can do if he goes where all of those mutants are gathered together.
Any one of Black Demon, Dragon, and Red Eye have the strength to swallow up Mechanic City. It is impossible for him to get past them and kill White Queen. And he does not want to fight with Black Demon.
"I"ll watch how you take care of this matter."
Woong!
Cha Jun Sung returns to reality.
The words he left behind have a fair amount of meaning.
"He"s gone."
Black Demon"s senses picked up that Cha Jun Sung had disappeared. He has gone back to where he came from. Level 8 and 9 mutants are gathered next to Black Demon.
He intends to stay in this place for a while.
Not that long, but for just about 10 days?
White Queen needs to recover her strength, and that bothers him too.
Boom boom!
He does not want to leave Cruel King, now Parasite King"s host, behind. If that awakens and goes crazy, Black Demon is the only one who can stop it. The rest cannot block it because they are not in good conditions.
Also, those mutants are dead if Lifers enter while he is gone. Black Demon does not welcome Lifers shooting them up. Dragon and Red Eye will become the subjects of missions, and White Queen"s group is included in there as well. That is why he will be taking measures in preparation. He did not tell White Queen"s group. He is only going to tell Red Eye a little and end it, too.
"I hope he does well."
They have more advantages as Cha Jun Sung advances more quickly.
He can focus entirely on himself if Cha Jun Sung kills Evil Queen and South America"s Bone Monster. Whatever happens, their side is currently at a greater advantage than Evil Queen is. That wh.o.r.e has too many enemies.
"The negative as opportunity."
Enemies of the enemy are not allies. They are enemies.
If they are used well however, they may not become allies but they can become aid. He will polish the path and win until it becomes the worst.
A few days pa.s.sed after he returned from the mission. Nothing in particular happened in that time. Cha Jun Sung rested comfortably at home in order to organize this thoughts.
His party members were not laboring through missions or risking their lives for points, so they all enjoyed their leisure while only contacting each other. Cha Jun Sung was not able to complete the advance mission Restriction Line to the end. He does not care. He can do something like that at any time, so he has no lingering attachments.
"They do as they want."
Life Mission can change their rules at any time whenever they want. This means that they can go back and forth on everything. Life Mission controlled missions to flow in the direction they wanted them to. A special mission had not been applied even when he came across Black Demon.
Normally, this would not be possible. Unless a special mission is created, there is no clear criteria to judge the mission"s difficulty level.
A Lifer could guarantee their life extemporaneously if they are extremely capable or quick witted, but not all Lifers can be like that. Tens of thousands of Lifers entered Africa, but they died en ma.s.se because the system had made it so they could not distinguish what kind of situation they were in.
Everything is hard the first time, and only gets easier after. Meaning that this kind of situation could happen again.
Beep beep!
Cha Jun Sung turns the TV on. His everyday life is not that special just because he is an outstanding Lifer. He is just a normal person outside of missions.
[MBB, we have breaking news. According to aggregate results, the number of level C Lifer deaths is over 300,000. This number is equivalent to that of periods of advancement missions in the past. But there has not been a case where so many Lifers died all at once since the framework was built.]
[The World Federation provided a lot of aid in determining the death count, and each country held an interview to take action. In Korea, Seven Stars" master Ghost Gun Lim Si Hyun agreed to interview, so let"s go meet him now.]
The screen changed to an official press conference with a lot of people gathered together. The gentle and handsome Lim Si Hyun is sitting at the head of the table.
/ /
Volume 6 / Chapter 189
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Hungry Panda
Reporters" questions, Lim Si Hyun"s calm responses. There is a reason why Lim Si Hyun came out and not Han Chang Jin. He is seasoned in these matters because he was an actor.
Lim Si Hyun plays a video filmed inside the mission. They have a video of the level 9s that is similar to the one that Cha Jun Sung has. They cut or used special effects to edit the more cruel scenes so as not to create aversion.
It felt like they were watching a war movie, but they cannot enjoy it because it is reality. Tens of thousands of Lifers and mutants collide. It is a large war that destroyed Life Mission"s system of parties and forces.
"What you all see in this video filmed by a survivor is the reason why Lifers died as a group. We asked the helpers about this situation, but they are being evasive by saying that this is just an error in the game."
The video continued.
"Level B Lifers in World Federation were left defenseless and had no choice but to return. Helpers only blocked returns for Lifers to level C, and did not block it for level B Lifers."
A reporter"s hand shoots up in the air.
It is not time to ask questions, but Lim Si Hyun did not refuse it. It is good to resolve one or two questions as they arise.
"Did level B Lifers abandon their peers in the battlefield and run away?"
"The expression is wrong. We were able to figure out what happened with this incident because of those survivors. If they had died inside the mission, we would have gone over this incident without a word."
This is something that Cha Jun Sung agrees with as well.
It would have been the perfect crime if there had not been survivors. A lot of people died, but no one would have known why they died.
"But it isn"t wrong to say that they ran away by themselves so they could get away."
Lim Si Hyun frowns. There is always a reporter who tries to stand out.
"Then what should they have done?"
"Excuse me?"
"The only choices they had were to run away or die. You"re going to find fault with them for running away? So you"re saying that they should have died?"
A person is only allocated one life. That is an unchanging truth. It doesn"t look good that they ran away, but they cannot criticize them.
Hm hm!
People in the area are glaring.
They are making it known that the reporter should sit down if he has nothing to say. The reporter had been trying to get a scoop, but could not stand the pressure and sat down.
Lim Si Hyun answered several other questions, but there was no prominent progress.
Of course.
They need to be connected to Life Mission if they want to resolve this issue.
If they cannot punish the suspects, they are walking in place no matter how much the victims talk about it.
Cha Jun Sung is sure that this incident will be flushed with time.
He touches his PDA.
Since his return from Underpa.s.s, he decided to turn it on only when he needs it. It doesn"t matter if he is only communicating with Odin, but he does not like the fact that the superiors can watch his every move.
Life Mission will be as suspicious of Cha Jun Sung as he is of Life Mission.
Ring!
While he was watching Lim Si Hyun"s interview, his phone rang. The name that comes up on caller ID is Park Jin Hyuk. He is calling by phone because the PDA is off.
"h.e.l.lo?"
[Jun Sung! PDA. Did you see the PDA notice?]
"Notice?"
[Hurry up and turn it on! Hurry hurry! Mechanic City"s a mess right now!]
Cha Jun Sung activated his PDA. He can feel surprise and confusion in Park Jin Hyuk"s voice. It became much more comfortable to read others" emotions ever since he became a mutant. Were things other than his physical ability strengthened?
"I"ll look at it and contact you."
[Okay! You"re going to be really surprised. Lifer World is in a state of emergency too!]
Cha Jun Sung ended the call with Park Jin Hyuk and went into the notice he was talking about. Life Mission uses these notices if they have something to say to Lifers, but it has not been of much use because they didn"t have much to say to each other. In other words, it is nominal.
"What… This…"
Cha Jun Sung"s words faded away in disbelief.
It is so simple that can be seen as being insincere, but the content is not simple at all. It is an unconventional act that clumsily knocks over the existing framework.
[From this time today, we will be releasing entry restrictions for missions by cla.s.s. Only stores are restricted. Level E and level B Lifers can enter missions with the release of this restriction. The only limit is to level B because there are no Lifers who have opened level A.]
He is not 100% sure, but it seems that the lowest and top Lifers have come to share missions. If Cha Jun Sung opens up level A, level E Lifers can enter level A as well.
There is no change to the fact that they must advance in order to use stores by level, but it will become easier to gather points if they get on buses. Only time will tell whether this will prove to be something good or bad.
Release on restrictions.
The opening of top level missions that they could not enter because they were blocked by level. Life Mission tried to get past the incident in Africa as an error in the game.
It is only a guess, but this can only be seen as them bulldozing the wall to try and cover the situation. The release on restriction has both an advantage and a disadvantage.
The advantage is that they can earn a tremendous amount of points.
Think about a level E Lifer who can barely catch a level 1 mutant on his own, joining a level C battlesuit force.
Reward points alone are an average of 1 million. It means that there is no reason for Lifers to go into lower level missions. They cannot use stores because those are blocked, but they can make tons of money even though the market price of points has gone down to less than $10.
It has been a long time since level C Lifers have become standardized, so their levels are basically the same. Level B advancement is a dream, but they are thinking of taking this chance to accept bus riders to make a lot of money.
The disadvantage is that the number of those dying increased proportionately. Levels D and E Lifers were unable to adjust to level C atmosphere. In lower levels, they can make mistakes and make up for them. In level C however, mistakes take lives. They are unable to adapt, so the risk grows in proportion to the merits gained.
It happened and Life Mission seems to have no thoughts of fixing it.
They are telling Lifers to go into low and high level missions as they please. It is the beginning now, so adventurous Lifers followed this.
"A lot of people are dying, but they"ll break into level B missions too at this rate."
"Yeah."
Cha Jun Sung reacted positively to Park Jin Hyuk"s words.
In level B raids, 1000 people enter. If they put in as many level B Lifers as they can and fill the rest with level C Lifers, they can enhance their power.
Existing level B mission raids fell behind in quality and quant.i.ty, but the restriction release makes it possible to properly mix the two.
Level C Lifers are not becoming level B Lifers just because they complete level B missions. They have not completed level C advancements. They are just helping others, but they gain as much as they sacrifice.
"That"s that. When are you thinking of trying an advancement mission? Immediately?"
"Why?"
"World Federation is asking us to help. Not advancement, but just normal level B. It"s hard for us to refuse because we got a lot of help from them while you were gone."
Park Jin Hyuk"s group acted with the World Federation to get to level B from C during Cha Jun Sung"s period of absence. Strategist considered their convenience as much as he could, and they saw a lot of gains from working with World Federation.
World Federation and Strategist do not yet know that Cha Jun Sung has returned.
There is no reason for them to know when they never told them. This is the same for other rankers. They did not say nothing because they were annoyed or because they did not want to. They just haven"t had reason to speak to them. Is there really any reason to go to them and tell them, "I"m alive"?
"Same thoughts?"
Koharu, Kyoko, Violet, and Basil are in agreement with Park Jin Hyuk. It looks like they cannot refuse. Then what do they need to do?
"Do I have to go, too?"
"We"ll go on our own."
"You"ll be okay?"
"Of course. I think it"ll take about 1 or 2 months, so get some rest in the meantime."
He met Park Jin Hyuk for the first time when he was 19, but he is also now in his early 20s. He still looks young, but it is true that he has matured.
"Alright?"
"We can tell them you"re alive, right? I"m sure they"ll bother you once they know, but it"s weird to keep going like this too when it"s not a secret or anything."
"Go ahead."
It makes sense. They will keep b.u.mping into each other later, so it is better to just tell them.
"Should I complete advancement while they"re in their mission? That"d be good."
He can do it alone, or do it with his party. 1 or 2 months isn"t a short amount of time. He can"t just hang around everyday, so he should just complete it in this time.
Under the a.s.sumption that he has plenty of time, he can read the final step if he opens up the level S store and meet all of the specifications he possibly can.
Perfection.
It is the name put only to Lifers of the 36 rankers in the virtual version who reached the end. There is not much time left before he can take that name.
/ /